Mounting for guns and the like



Nov. 22, 1938. M. J. o. LOBELLE ET AL MOUNTING FOR GUNS AND THE LIKEFiled May l0, 1957 5 Sheets-Shea?l 1 I I l I l l `\l gni? NOV 22, 1938M. J. o. LoBELLE Er AL MOUNTING FOR GUNS AND THE LIKE Filed May l0, 19375 Sheets-Sheet 2 Y ffm/m75 Nov. 22, 1938. M. J. o. LOBELLE ET ALMOUNTING FOR GUNS AND THE LIKE Filed May l0, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 NOV-22, 1938. M. J. o. LOBELLE ET A1. Y. 2,137,577

MOUNTING FOR GUNS AND THE LIKE Filed May l0, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 WMM@fm/w @ya Nov. 22, 1938. M J. o. LOBELLE ET AL 2,137,577

MOUNTING FOR GUNS AND THE LIKE Filed May l0, 193'7 5 Sheets-Sheet [/7V60 fons.'

Patented Nov. 22, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Marcel Jules odilonLbene, Langley, and Eamund Voss, Hayes, England, assignors to The FaireyAviation Company,

England Limited, Hayes,

Application May 10, 1937, Serial No. 141,852 In Great Britain December7, 1935- 5 Claims.

This invention relates to mountings for guns, and the like, for use onaircraft, motor boats, and ships, and in similar positions.

Collapsible gun or similar mountings are known which comprise a toothedsector pivotally mounted on a transverse axis, a gun-carrying armpivotally mounted relative to said sector on an axis which is fore andaft when the sector is upright, and means for locking said arm to saidsector in its angularly adjusted positions.

In accordance with the present invention, and in order to compensate forthe weight of the gun when said arm is swung to one side or the other ofits mdposition, a suitably guided compression spring is mounted on thesector, which spring abuts against the lower ends of two levers pivotedon the sector, the upper ends of said levers being adapted to lie in thepath of said arm or a part carried thereby or movable therewith, and,when engaged thereby, to transmit the weight (or a part of the weight)of the gun to said spring from that end of the spring on the sidetowards which the gun is moved. If desired, a tension spring may beemployed, if the levers be arranged accordingly.

In order that the continuity of the surface of the aircraft, motor boator the like may be preserved, when the improved gun mounting is in itsstowed position it may be arranged within a cylindrical or similar bodyof circular, or mainly circular, cross-section, rotatable on an axisparallel, or substantially parallel, with the adjacent part of thesurface of an aircraft, motor boat or the. like, and adjacent to anaperture in said surface; part of said body being adapted, when saidmounting is in its stowed position, to close said aperture byconstituting a portion of said surface, whilst, when said body is turnedthrough half a revolution, said aperture is opened and the collapsiblemounting may be extended to its exposed position.

The invention is particularly suitable for use in connection with amachine gun on an aircraft and will be described with reference theretoby way of example. In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1, 2 and 3 arefragmentary diagrammatic side elevations illustrating one form` of theinvention, the gun and gun carriage being shown in different positions;Figures 4 and 5 are detail end views of the gun carriage as seen fromthe left of Figures 1 and 2 respectively, the gun and its collapsiblemounting being omitted; Figure 6 is a similar view to Figure 5 butshowing the gun and its collapsible mounting in (o1. sal-37.5)

a laterally extended position, and Figures 7, 8 and 9, are enlargeddetail views.

Mounted in brackets a a on a horizontal axis and adjacent to an openingat the upper part of the fuselage b of an aeroplane and near the tailend thereof if' a so-called barrel c in the form of a truncel u conehaving a longitudinal slot d extending rearwardly from its larger orfront end, trunnions for said barrel being arranged at each end of thebarrel c. The trunnion at the rear end is carried by one or more radialarms such as e, Figures 4 and 5.

Within the barrel c and diametrically opDOSite the slot d is arranged acollapsible gun mountingcomprising a toothed sector f pivotally mountedon a transverse axis at j', a gun-carrying arm y pivotally mountedrelatively to said sector ,f on a fore and aft axis at g and means forlocking the arm g to the sector f in its angularly adjusted positions.The gun-carrying arm g forms part of a parallelogram, the sides of whichare pivoted together at the corners of the parallelogram so that as saidarm g is swung about its fore and aft axis at g a median longitudinalplane of a gun h carried thereby will always remain vertical, whilst,when the toothed sector f is swung about its transverse axis at f thegun-carrying arm g and its associated parts move as one therewith.

The parallelogram above mentioned is constituted by the gun-carrying armg which is bifurcated at its lower end and straddles the sector f, asecond arm i, Figure 6, consisting of a pair of links arranged side byside, s'ee Figure 3, pivoted to the sector f on a fore and aft axis asat 7", the portion of the sector f lying between the pivtal axes g' andf', and a corresponding member lc pivoted to the gun-carrying arm g andlying between the pair of links forming the arm a', at the ends of saidarms g and j remote from said pivotal axes g' and i. Said member k isintegral with a short spindle m, Figure 3, and carries a socket n' inwhich a pintle o is mounted on a Vertical axis at the upper end of whichthe gun h is pivoted on a horizontal axis, thus permitting universalmovement of the gun h about the gun-carrying arm g. In order tocompensate for the weight of the gun h when said arm g is swung to oneside or the other of its midposition relatively to the sector f, thereis mounted on the latter a slotted tube p which constitutes a guide fora compression spring q abutting against the lower ends of two levers r rpivoted on the sector f, the upper ends of said levers r r lying in thepath of a n or rib s on the arm g and, when the one or the other of saidlevers r r is engaged by said fin or rib s,

is transmitted to said spring q from that end of the spring at the sidetowards which the gun is moved, the inturned end of the tube p at theother side, acting, for the time being, as a fixed abutment. v

In order that the sector f and gun-carrying arm g,may be Asupported whenraised from a normal horizontal (Figure 2) to a vertical (Figure 3)Vposition, an upwardly-breaking knuckle-jointed strut t, u, is providedin rear thereof, see Figures 3 and 9, being pivotally connected as at twith said arm g through' subsidiary arms v v integral with the latter,and with the barrel c, as at u', the arrangement being such that .theknuckle joint between the strut elements t, u, passes its dead centreposition when said parts are so raised. In order to limit the extent towhich the elements of the strut t u may move beyond the dead centre whensaid parts are so raised, in order to break the joint when the strut t uis to be collapsed to allow the sector f and gun-carrying arm g to moveabout the transverse axis at f', from the vertical to the horizontalposition and in order to secure said parts in the horizontal position,there is pivotally mounted in the barrel c a hook w Figures 8 and 9,adapted (a) to constitute a stop for the contiguous ends of the elementst u, of the strut just after they have passed their dead centre positionsee Figure 9, (b) to act as a cam, when turned, to force Said endsthrough their dead centre position to enable the knuckle joint to break,and (c) to engage a pin on a lug y on the gun-carrying arm g when thelatter is in its horizontal position (see Figure 8) and thus hold saidarm g and its associated parts, including the gun h, in that position.This hook w is mounted on a spindle with a lever y' connected through alink z with an 0perating lever 2l pivotally mounted as at 22 in aconvenient position on the barrel c.

The barrel c itself forms, as nearly as circumstances permit, acontinuation of the surface of the fuselage b of the aeroplane, and isprovided with means whereby it may be turned through half a revolutionand locked in either of its extreme positions. For instance, as shown inFigures 4 and 5, hooks or lugs such as 23 on the barrel c may bearranged alternatively to engage a stop 24 on the `fuselage b and aspring influenced detent 25 pivoted on the stop 24 may engage openingssuch as 26, Figure 4, teeth or the like on the barrel c.

vNormally, the gunh and its mountings are collapsed into the barrel cand locked therein, and the slot d in the barrel lies at the bottomthereof, that is to say the gun and its collapsed mounting occupy aninverted position as shown in Figure 1, but, for use, the barrel c isturned through half a revolution by means of a handle 21 on the radialarm e at the front end oi said barrel, and locked, by the detent 25, inthe position shown in Figure 2. The mounting is released by operating 1the weight (or a part of the weight) of the gun h the lever 2| toactuate the hook w, and is extended by turning the sector f and itsassociated parts about the transverse axis at f so that the gun h passesthrough the slot d in the barrel c to its "exposed position, as shown inFigure 3.

The gun-carrying arm gis locked to the sector f in its angularlyadjusted positions by means of a detent 28 (Figure 7), pivoted to a lug29 on said gun-carrying arm and actuated through Bowdenf mechanism 30,3| by means of a lever 32 disposed adjacent the handle 33 of the gun h.

We claim:

1. A collapsible mounting for a gun and the like comprising a movabletoothed sector pivotally mounted on an axis in the plane of said sector,a gun-carrying arm pivotally mounted on said sector on an axis which isperpendicular to said rst axis, means for adjustably locking said arm tosaid sector, two levers secured to said mounting, the upper ends of saidlevers being adapted to engage said arm, spring means, the lower ends ofsaid levers engaging said spring means, and at least one of said leverstransmitting the moving weight of said gun to said spring means.

2. A mounting as in claim 1, an upwardlybreaking knuckle-jointed strutsecured to said gun-carrying arm, and means for passing said knucklejoint by its dead center position on moving said gun to said uprightposition.

3. A mounting as in claim 1, an upwardlybreaking knuckle-jointed strutsecures?. to said gun-carrying arm, means for passing said knuckle jointby its dead center position on moving said gun to said upright position,a pivotally mounted hook, means for moving said hook to constitute astop for the contiguous ends of the elements of the knuckle-jointedstrut just after they have passed their dead center position and to actas a cam to force said ends` through their dead center position toenable the knuckle joint to break, and means engageable with said. hookto lock said gun-carrying arm in lowered position.

4. A mounting as in claim 1, a substantially cylindrical hollow bodyrotatable around its longitudinal axis, a longitudinally extending slotin said body, and means for projecting said gun through said slot whensaid sector is in upright position.

5. A mounting as in claim l, a second arm parallel to said gun carryingarm, pivot means securing one end of said second arm to said sector, amember pivotally joining the other ends of said second arm and guncarrying arm to form therewith and with said sector a parallelogram, andgun carrying means, supported by said gun carrying arm and xed withrespect to said member, for maintaining a gun attached thereto inupright positionthroughout movements of said gun carrying arm.

MARCEL JULES ODILONv LOBELLE. EDMUND VOSS.

